A movable feast of art

A view of the interior of the original home of the Barnes Foundation, one of the world's premier collections of Impressionist art, in Merion, Pa.

Established in 1922, the foundation housing the collection of Dr. Albert Barnes has in recent years undergone financial troubles and, after a controversial, years-long legal fight over control of the foundation's artwork, moved into a new home in Philadelphia.

Credit: Barnes Foundation

Brilliant and eccentric, Dr. Albert Barnes of Philadelphia made a fortune in pharmaceuticals, and started buying what was then considered "modern art." It was not well-received by Philadelphia society, and so Barnes built a home for his collection next door to his suburban residence in Merion, Pa. The museum was rarely open to the general public - its main purpose, Barnes said, was to conduct classes in art appreciation.

Credit: Barnes Foundation

Paul Cezanne's "The Card Players." The Barnes Foundation has what director Derek Gilman calls "the greatest Cezanne collection in the world" . . . along with "the greatest Renoir collection in the world, and one of the world's great Matisse collections."

Credit: Barnes Foundation

Chief curator Judith Dolkart said Barnes created specific installations of artwork, deliberately intermingling his collection of pottery and Pennsylvania Dutch chests with the paintings, finding similarities in color and form. Displays of art are punctuated by ironwork and metal pieces. "He's creating harmonies among the works," Dolkart said.

At left: Correspondence from 1927 in which Dr. Barnes details the arrangement of works by Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau and Matisse.
Dolkert said Barnes felt the forms of the metalwork echoed or underscored the forms in the paintings themselves.

Credit: Barnes Foundation

The South Wall of the Main Room in the original Barnes Foundation home. Over Henri Matisse's "Seated Ruffian" and Pablo Picasso's "Composition: The Peasants" are seen canvases of Matisse's "The Dance."

Credit: Barnes Foundation

Matisse is seen at his studio in Nice in 1931, drawing "The Dance" with charcoal attached to a long bamboo stick.

Credit: Barnes Foundation

Barnes died in a car crash in 1951, leaving about $10 million to support the foundation. He had also stipulated it was not to be moved. But by the 1990s, the institution was going broke, and thus began a series of legal battles over what would happen to the art.
After a controversial fight involving the trustees of Barnes' collection, the foundation constructed a new home for the artwork in Philadelphia.

Left: Tom McCarthy, a carpenter foreman, works at the site for the Barnes Foundation's new home, Sept. 15, 2011 in Philadelphia.

Credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The new site exactly replicates Barnes' original layout of paintings and artwork, such as the room featuring Matisee's "The Dance."